Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Britney Saunders, and welcome to Big Business, the
Speaker 1: place where business is far from boring. And today I'm
Speaker 1: recording on gaddigul Land. Now I somehow manage to build
Speaker 1: an empire from the garage underneath my house, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to share it all with you, from the winds,
Speaker 1: the mistakes, the challenging times and the funny moments in between. So,
Speaker 1: whether you're in business yourself, perhaps you're not in the
Speaker 1: game at all, maybe you're looking for some inspo, or
Speaker 1: you just simply want to hear the tea, this is
Speaker 1: the podcast for you. Coming up on today's episode, we
Speaker 1: are going to be deep diving into Jean's West shutting
Speaker 1: down and if you haven't heard, they're shutting the whole
Speaker 1: thing down. And they are a dinosaur brand which has
Speaker 1: been around.
Speaker 2: For a really long time. That's what you call brands
Speaker 2: that have been around for a really long time.
Speaker 3: I'm old and.
Speaker 2: We're going to be discussing it.
Speaker 1: And also I'm going to share some of my thoughts
Speaker 1: and some of my fears around potentially finding myself in
Speaker 1: this same position one day, because it's a harsh it's
Speaker 1: a harsh reality. Businesses are gonna end one day, and
Speaker 1: that's just a scary reality that we deal with. And
Speaker 1: before I jump into today's episode, I just want to
Speaker 1: do a little reminder.
Speaker 2: And you're going to get sick of me. You're going
Speaker 2: to be sick of me.
Speaker 1: But just in case you didn't hear like my last
Speaker 1: bonus episode or see anything that I've posted on Instagram
Speaker 1: in the last week or so, I have a book.
Speaker 2: I have written a book.
Speaker 1: I'm an author and my book is available for pre
Speaker 1: order right now. Xander's going to leave a link in
Speaker 1: the show notes. It's on book Topia. If you love
Speaker 1: everything I do here on the pod, you will love
Speaker 1: my book. So I just thought I would give my
Speaker 1: book one more little shout out. But let's just jump
Speaker 1: straight into today's episode. Well, Xander, did you know that
Speaker 1: approximately sixty percent of Australian businesses fail within their first
Speaker 1: three years, with many failing in the first year.
Speaker 4: I actually did know that because I did business studies
Speaker 4: in high school and I.
Speaker 2: Did business studies too.
Speaker 3: I hated it.
Speaker 2: I loved it.
Speaker 1: Did you have to like a make up like a
Speaker 1: pretend business and have like a business plan?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 3: What was mine?
Speaker 4: I think I I think at the time, I still
Speaker 4: wanted to be a dance teacher, Okay, and so I
Speaker 4: think I like it was a dance school that was my.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what mine was, but it makes me
Speaker 1: wish that I still had like all my old school
Speaker 1: I know stuff Cuz imagine.
Speaker 4: Lost on the old house computer somewhere.
Speaker 1: Imagine if I'd done a clothing label. I feel like
Speaker 1: I could have, like now that I think about it. Anyway,
Speaker 1: For those of you that didn't know that fact, sixty
Speaker 1: percent of all Australian businesses fail within their first three years.
Speaker 2: That is a very alarming statistic.
Speaker 1: In financial year twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: there were four hundred thirty six thousand business entries and
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty two thousand exits.
Speaker 3: That's like almost all of them.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Jean's West, which we all know it has
Speaker 1: been around for a really long time, they have announced
Speaker 1: that they are going into administration and closing all of
Speaker 1: their physical retail stores. And the shutting down of their
Speaker 1: physical retail chain will impact six hundred employees across ninety stores.
Speaker 1: It's saying here that the business will still operate online.
Speaker 4: I have a lot of questions around this, and I
Speaker 4: brought a few of them up too before we even started.
Speaker 4: But from someone I'm not in business, so and you've
Speaker 4: mentioned that they would have had leases for the ninety
Speaker 4: stores still ongoing from a couple of years ago. But
Speaker 4: like in my head, you know, four or five years ago,
Speaker 4: they knew they were in trouble, they knew their own
Speaker 4: over time.
Speaker 1: They went into administration back in twenty twenty, I believe,
Speaker 1: and then I think a parent company came in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it took over, took over, and then it's happened again.
Speaker 4: Why with ninety stores across Australia and you're you're in
Speaker 4: what it seems like some crippling financial struggles, why would
Speaker 4: you not close down a large majority of those stores
Speaker 4: to save costs and then move a lot of your
Speaker 4: business online.
Speaker 2: You think that that's what they would do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Again, I'm not in any kind of position to be
Speaker 1: giving advice, totally.
Speaker 3: Done, but that's where my mind goes.
Speaker 1: Me too, Like, the only thing I can think of
Speaker 1: is how difficult it would be to get out of
Speaker 1: so many leases, And in my experience, all of our
Speaker 1: commercial retail leases that we sign are five years long.
Speaker 1: But I wonder because Jean's West is so big, and
Speaker 1: they've been around for so long, and they've had stores
Speaker 1: for so long, I wonder if they're in ten or
Speaker 1: fifteen or twenty year leases.
Speaker 4: Because there's a Genes West store in almost every major
Speaker 4: shopping so you go to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I also think I don't know a single person
Speaker 1: that's ever shopped.
Speaker 2: At Geans don't. I don't know anyone that's ever shopped
Speaker 2: at Jeans West.
Speaker 1: And there's so much that I could say here, because
Speaker 1: I'm going to get into it, like what I would
Speaker 1: do if I was Jean's West, But my only thought is,
Speaker 1: like with ninety stores, like I can only imagine how
Speaker 1: expensive it would be for them to shut them because
Speaker 1: when you're breaking that lease, you've got to pay it out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, does that depend on the contract you're in.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And again I can't speak for them because who knows
Speaker 1: what their leases say, who knows how long their leases are,
Speaker 1: But I could only imagine they're probably longer and bigger
Speaker 1: than my little leases.
Speaker 2: That I've got.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's so expensive to break a lease, like
Speaker 1: a regular lease, let alone a retail one, like I
Speaker 1: can't even begin to imagine, And I'm gonna guess like
Speaker 1: maybe that's why they haven't made the decision to shut them,
Speaker 1: But I mean they've made the decision now.
Speaker 4: From your perspective, obviously, Fates like nowhere near as big
Speaker 4: as Jean's West had been yet yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, if I could handle that.
Speaker 4: You know, right now, in the scale that Fate is at,
Speaker 4: you would be comfortable with the five year lease that's
Speaker 4: kind of like the standard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but even then that's a really scary thing to
Speaker 1: sign totally.
Speaker 4: But with their scale, Jean's West scale, do you think
Speaker 4: it would be a common thing to sign a lease
Speaker 4: that was a lot longer? Do you think that they
Speaker 4: were probably felt safe to do that.
Speaker 1: Actually, they could have some really long leases in place.
Speaker 1: And again I don't know this for sure, but this
Speaker 1: is the scary thing. And I know we've spoken about
Speaker 1: this on the podcast before, but signing more and more leases,
Speaker 1: you're extending the hopeful length of your business journey. So
Speaker 1: I have all of my leases now for my five stores,
Speaker 1: and the one that will be coming up first would
Speaker 1: be our Westfield Miranda store. Yeah, because besides own Newcastle
Speaker 1: one as well. But that's like with our cafe and everything.
Speaker 1: So that's fine, but I don't know how long we've
Speaker 1: been at Miranda now two years or maybe a bit more,
Speaker 1: so that'll be the first lease that is like coming
Speaker 1: up for either renewal or ending it. And then let's say,
Speaker 1: now if I go and open another store, now, I'm
Speaker 1: starting the five year cycle again, but starting it now.
Speaker 1: It's not as if though, if I open a store
Speaker 1: now Miranda and the store I open now will end
Speaker 1: at the same time. So the more and more that
Speaker 1: you pile onto your list of leases, like the longer
Speaker 1: you're you're dragging your business out but in hopes that
Speaker 1: you'll still be operating.
Speaker 2: Then if you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And again, when it comes to having leases, you then
Speaker 1: have to decide at the end, am I going to
Speaker 1: commit to another five years or do I walk away
Speaker 1: from the store. So like, for example, our Westfield Miranda
Speaker 1: store in about two years time, will have to start
Speaker 1: thinking like are we going to keep this going? Are
Speaker 1: we going to commit to another five years in Miranda?
Speaker 1: Because a lot can happen in five years, a lot
Speaker 1: can happen in five days in business, and one of
Speaker 1: the craziest things about business.
Speaker 2: When it boils down to it.
Speaker 1: I'm not guaranteed tomorrow in my business journey. Shit could
Speaker 1: hit the fan overnight tonight and my business could collapse.
Speaker 1: We could make one bad financial decision and boom fate
Speaker 1: could be gone tomorrow. But then you've got these long
Speaker 1: leases that you're committed to, and that's just one of
Speaker 1: the most difficult things to deal with and sign yourself
Speaker 1: up to. But that's the risk that we take when
Speaker 1: we open retail stores, is we are confident enough that
Speaker 1: we can keep that thing going for five years. Yeah.
Speaker 4: From an outsider's perspective, looking at Jeans West and how
Speaker 4: they've operated over the years, where do you think they
Speaker 4: were sitting in terms of how people viewed them as
Speaker 4: a business. Now do you think that they have kind
Speaker 4: of they failed to kind of keep up. Yes.
Speaker 2: The reason why Jean's West.
Speaker 1: I believe the reason why Jeans West is shutting all
Speaker 1: their stores is because.
Speaker 2: They haven't done anything.
Speaker 1: They haven't done a single thing to keep up with
Speaker 1: the way that the world and social media.
Speaker 2: Has changed, just aggressed instead.
Speaker 1: They're a dinosaur brand that's been around forever. They've done
Speaker 1: things the same all the time, and.
Speaker 3: It has worked in the past.
Speaker 1: It has worked, but it's changed so much now and
Speaker 1: it's almost disappointing because at some point there they would have.
Speaker 2: Had the money to change.
Speaker 1: And God, like I wish if I wasn't running Fate,
Speaker 1: I could go in and go all right, because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, they just need to level
Speaker 1: up their marketing.
Speaker 2: They need to switch it up. What is one cool.
Speaker 1: Activational campaign that Jeans West has ever done?
Speaker 2: I can't think of one, and.
Speaker 1: It's so frustrating because Jeans West could be cool. I
Speaker 1: was even thinking even the name Jeans West, like, I
Speaker 1: feel like that's such a cool name. When we hear
Speaker 1: Jeans West, we do think of like old. But God,
Speaker 1: if they just did like a bit of a rebrand,
Speaker 1: got a good marketing gun in even just a really
Speaker 1: fire social media person.
Speaker 2: They could flip that thing on its head.
Speaker 4: I think a back fifteen years ago in my when
Speaker 4: I was a teenager and I would go into Jeans
Speaker 4: West and look for a pair of jeans or.
Speaker 3: Whatever, a piece of clothing.
Speaker 4: I would not now, I would never walk into that
Speaker 4: store thinking I'd find something for me.
Speaker 2: That's the other thing as well.
Speaker 1: They need to realize that retail isn't what it used
Speaker 1: to be. It's not just hanging clothes and folding them
Speaker 1: on a table and having foot traffic coming in and buy.
Speaker 1: You've got to create an experience in your stores.
Speaker 2: And I think that's.
Speaker 1: Another part of why they're shutting down all their stores,
Speaker 1: because their stores are bland.
Speaker 2: It's styles haven't changed.
Speaker 1: It's not an experience. But don't get me wrong, people
Speaker 1: love jeans like jeans is one of our number one
Speaker 1: selling categories at FATE. People love jeans. They could have
Speaker 1: really like made their whole brand about having the best
Speaker 1: gens ever. I would love if I didn't, if it
Speaker 1: wasn't so busy, I would love to go in and
Speaker 1: try and help Jeans West hire me as your brand
Speaker 1: and marketing coordinator. I would love to flip that thing
Speaker 1: on its head. And it's just disappointing, you know, And
Speaker 1: I'm sad for any business that shuts down. But at
Speaker 1: some point they would have had the funds to full
Speaker 1: rebrand and change up their stores, make it an experience,
Speaker 1: kill it on social media. Like they had the funds,
Speaker 1: they had the people, they had the resources. But they're
Speaker 1: just so stuck in their old dinosaur ways that they
Speaker 1: didn't do anything about it. And I don't know who
Speaker 1: runs Jean's West, but it's probably like a board of
Speaker 1: directors that are seventy years old or something, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's just a prime example of, you know, a
Speaker 1: brand that's been around forever that just doesn't have it
Speaker 1: in them to keep up with how much the world
Speaker 1: and retail and shopping and e commerce is changing.
Speaker 2: And that's what I honestly think.
Speaker 3: A hypothetical for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, say, for example, God Forbid Fate found itself in
Speaker 4: some financial difficulties yep, which meant you needed to scale
Speaker 4: back to save the business?
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: How would you go about that? What would your first
Speaker 4: steps be? And I realized this is dependable on how
Speaker 4: bad it is. Yeah, but give us an example of
Speaker 4: the steps you would take to ensure the business survived.
Speaker 1: Firstly, I would obviously speak with our accountant, and we
Speaker 1: do this often and we always look at and know
Speaker 1: our numbers. But I'd be chatting with our accountant straight away.
Speaker 1: I'd be finding out where we're going wrong. I'd be
Speaker 1: finding out what's making us lose money?
Speaker 2: Is it the stores?
Speaker 1: Is it you know, head office, like, I'd find out
Speaker 1: where we're losing money and then, sadly, what you would
Speaker 1: have to do is look at stripping back. So if
Speaker 1: it was stores, for example, and we weren't making enough
Speaker 1: money in the stores and the business was going backwards,
Speaker 1: you'd have to look at shutting some of them down.
Speaker 1: And we see stores shut down all the time. It's
Speaker 1: hard to own a store. It is so expensive. Once
Speaker 1: I knew that, and once I knew what I needed
Speaker 1: to do, once I knew where I was losing.
Speaker 2: Money, I would turn it into a marketing campaign.
Speaker 1: I have always been so proud of being open and
Speaker 1: honest with our Fate community, with my community here on
Speaker 1: big business. I would be completely honest and share my journey.
Speaker 1: I would take it to social media and I would say,
Speaker 1: this is happening in my business, and this is literally if.
Speaker 2: This happens like, this is exactly what I'd fucking do.
Speaker 1: If Fate ever is in that kind of position, I
Speaker 1: would take it to our community.
Speaker 2: I would tell them.
Speaker 1: What we're going through, and I would talk to them
Speaker 1: about what we're going to do to try and keep
Speaker 1: ourselves afloat. And you see, it's so sad, but you
Speaker 1: know how you see so many businesses like let's say
Speaker 1: a local cafe for example, they're in financial hardship and
Speaker 1: they go to their Facebook page and you've seen like
Speaker 1: posts of business owners say it's with heavy hearts that
Speaker 1: we're closing next weekend, and then you see this uproar
Speaker 1: of community saying, no, you make the best pies.
Speaker 4: Happened for a few places here in Sydney and all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, the community.
Speaker 2: Like when I've seen it a million times.
Speaker 1: I remember it happened with yogat Land, but did you
Speaker 1: have yogat Land was at just Newcastle thing, so this
Speaker 1: was before Yochi and everything, but there was we had
Speaker 1: this yogurt Land.
Speaker 2: I think there was two of them. Yeah, I think so, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: because that would have been so hard for them.
Speaker 4: They can't do one line.
Speaker 1: No, But I remember, you know they're announcing on their Facebook,
Speaker 1: you know, yoga Land shutting down on in four weeks
Speaker 1: or whatever, and then there was just this uproar of
Speaker 1: support from the people that love yogat Land. So I
Speaker 1: would do the same, but I would do it not
Speaker 1: a week before we're shutting half the company down.
Speaker 2: I'd try and let my community know as soon as I.
Speaker 1: Could, because like the power of community is like nothing else,
Speaker 1: and I'd at least just give it a shot and
Speaker 1: be honest with everyone and say, this is what we're experiencing,
Speaker 1: this is what we're going to do in hopes to
Speaker 1: kind of keep this brand going and a float. I'd
Speaker 1: ask my community for feedback, where are we going wrong?
Speaker 1: What can we improve on, and I'd hear it from them.
Speaker 4: I think people wouldn't do that because they probably feel
Speaker 4: a shamed that our business is failing.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
Speaker 1: But like I said at the start of this episode,
Speaker 1: like sixty percent of businesses fail in the first three years,
Speaker 1: with most of them failing in the first I think
Speaker 1: we've got to lose this sense of like this fear
Speaker 1: of people thinking that we're a failure, because I think
Speaker 1: even if you start a business and it lasts for
Speaker 1: three years, let's say, and then you have to shut
Speaker 1: it down because it's just too hard to keep it going,
Speaker 1: I think that's something worth being so proud of instead
Speaker 1: of feeling like you've failed at.
Speaker 2: Because you.
Speaker 1: Had an idea and you brought it to life and
Speaker 1: you gave it a go. But we're just so worried
Speaker 1: about what people would say and it's not to say
Speaker 1: if Fate ever finds us in that scenario at some
Speaker 1: stage in.
Speaker 2: My life, of course I'll feel like a failure.
Speaker 1: But if I'm ever going to go through a really
Speaker 1: difficult financial stage with fate, I would want my community
Speaker 1: to know what we're going through, and I would want
Speaker 1: them to help us to maybe try and pick ourselves
Speaker 1: up again. And not by I mean not just shopping
Speaker 1: with us, but giving us feedback, letting us know what
Speaker 1: we can improve on or fix or level up to
Speaker 1: make shopping with us more enjoyable.
Speaker 4: Something you just said resonated with me. You said community.
Speaker 4: Then do you think Jeans West has failed to establish
Speaker 4: their own community?
Speaker 1: Yes, Jean's West doesn't have a community. I don't know
Speaker 1: one person. And again it might be the different demographic,
Speaker 1: but I don't know one person that has ever gone
Speaker 1: and shopped at Jean's West. And I feel as if
Speaker 1: though people.
Speaker 2: Our age like thirties, forties.
Speaker 1: Even people in their twenties, like we all love a
Speaker 1: good pair of geens, I feel like they've failed to
Speaker 1: capture that market. But Jean's West could be so cool.
Speaker 1: I think Jean's West is such a cool brand name
Speaker 1: like West yeah, like it's so it's so cool. I
Speaker 1: just feel like they've missed the mark and they've just
Speaker 1: been too stuck in their traditional ways, traditional retail.
Speaker 2: They've got to get with the times now.
Speaker 1: On all of this, we've seen a lot of other
Speaker 1: businesses and brands shut down recently, and like over the
Speaker 1: last year, Ali Fashion has collapsed and I've got here
Speaker 1: off Google, owing as much as fifty eight million dollars
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty eight stores across Australia and online
Speaker 1: they employed sixteen hundred Oh Ali Yeah, Ali Oh.
Speaker 3: I'm not that I've ever shopped there, but I know yeah.
Speaker 2: And again that's been around for ages.
Speaker 1: Like I used to go there when I was fourteen
Speaker 1: and fifteen to get a ten dollar dress to wear
Speaker 1: to the school disco.
Speaker 4: I just it just is so I'm not in business,
Speaker 4: but it's so crazy to me that these huge companies
Speaker 4: are finding themselves in these positions where we're actually shutting
Speaker 4: the whole thing down.
Speaker 1: Well, I think the other thing as well is this
Speaker 1: is an example of a brand or a business growing
Speaker 1: too big and to keep it it's out of control.
Speaker 1: And this is what I'm so mindful of is you
Speaker 1: can grow a business, and it can be booming stores
Speaker 1: bing bang bong stores opening up everywhere, but then it
Speaker 1: can become just out of control that the whole thing
Speaker 1: can just collapse and it's so big beyond you. You've
Speaker 1: lost the control that you don't you can't save it
Speaker 1: because there's too many working parts to it.
Speaker 2: And my community is always saying open.
Speaker 3: More stores, grow too fast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm so careful with what I do, and
Speaker 1: people even say slow down. I'm like, come on, I'm
Speaker 1: managing what we're doing fine. But that's the really scary
Speaker 1: thing about committing to another five year lease on top
Speaker 1: of another five year lease and another one, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you've stretched your business out to maybe
Speaker 1: the next ten years in hopes that you're going to
Speaker 1: make it, And it's just you've got to be so careful, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to grow and be big and successful and
Speaker 1: more money and more figures.
Speaker 4: But that initial demand might diminish and then you're stuck
Speaker 4: here with expenses exactly right.
Speaker 1: And that's what we've seen with Ali Jean's West and
Speaker 1: all these other brands that are going bust. We also
Speaker 1: had the same with Millers and nony Be again. They've
Speaker 1: been around for a really, really long time. Like I
Speaker 1: remember Grannie shopping there when I was little.
Speaker 3: Did Rivers shut as well?
Speaker 2: We've got rivers bar dough. If you remember Bardo, I
Speaker 2: remember the girl grew you best better?
Speaker 3: What's what's the other? One? Is a need's a bad?
Speaker 3: You know? Okay?
Speaker 2: I think I only knew the one song I'll tell
Speaker 2: you who? I love Sophie, Mum.
Speaker 3: I love son love Sophie.
Speaker 2: Can we get her on here? Have you met her?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: I would die? And you know what she always every
Speaker 4: time she does. She did it on the bloody uber
Speaker 4: eats ads. She put down her pop album she released
Speaker 4: and it infuriates me because her only in one solo
Speaker 4: album is fucking phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I need to listen to her.
Speaker 3: She always puts it down. I'm like, no, shut the
Speaker 3: fuck up. It is amazing.
Speaker 4: Sorry, this is a business podcast on a music podcast.
Speaker 2: There was also Sanity music stores. How devastating for them,
Speaker 2: but like understandable, but imagine.
Speaker 1: The guy that created Sanity and then Spotify comes out.
Speaker 4: Because at the time you're thinking, oh, well, no one's
Speaker 4: ever going to stop buying music, HM and lo and behold, so.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty three, Sanity announced that they were closing
Speaker 1: all of their remaining fifty physical stores.
Speaker 4: Do you know what I would have done it by,
Speaker 4: was them? What I would have completely shifted to a
Speaker 4: vinyl business.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because vinyls are cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The thing is, it's all in hindsight, because.
Speaker 1: And also, like these brands have been around forever, like Sanity,
Speaker 1: Jeans West, I mean, they've probably had lots and lots
Speaker 1: of owners. Like it's not just owned by one person
Speaker 1: that's running the whole thing. But when you've been around
Speaker 1: for that long, you're probably just fucking done with it.
Speaker 1: And if you've gone through that much hardship that you just.
Speaker 3: Don't you're already in trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't have it in you to go all right,
Speaker 1: let's rebrand and like change it all up.
Speaker 2: There's so many things to consider.
Speaker 1: I think one of the scariest things about reading this
Speaker 1: and my friend Tara, who owns Proud Poppy, who we've
Speaker 1: had on the pod already if you want to listen
Speaker 1: to that episode from a little while ago. She shared
Speaker 1: something on her story the other day saying, oh, Jeans
Speaker 1: West is shutting down and I'm just opening my next
Speaker 1: door next week.
Speaker 2: Like it's fucking scary.
Speaker 1: And it's one thing to be super confident and think, oh,
Speaker 1: that's never going to happen to me, But the reality
Speaker 1: of it is, one day my business is going to
Speaker 1: shut down. Because again, most businesses don't even make it
Speaker 1: through the first three years. What businesses, especially solo owned businesses,
Speaker 1: make it for a lifetime.
Speaker 4: It's actually hard to think of a lot of businesses
Speaker 4: who expand more than one store. Yeah, think of all
Speaker 4: the cafes you go to, a lot of them, there's.
Speaker 1: Not multiple Yeah, solo owned businesses. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: rare to see. And by that I mean like me,
Speaker 1: for example, I just own Fate. There's no investors, there's
Speaker 1: no board of directors. If you were to or if
Speaker 1: I were to have someone come in and take most
Speaker 1: of Fate off me and have a board of directors
Speaker 1: and get money injected into it, maybe Fate would last
Speaker 1: longer than just me on my own doing it because
Speaker 1: I'm just obviously figuring out how to.
Speaker 2: Keep it afloat all on my own with AJ.
Speaker 1: But it's a harsh and scary reality and I haven't
Speaker 1: thought about it a lot, but I have more recently
Speaker 1: with all these stores closing down.
Speaker 2: One day, fate is going to end, and it's going
Speaker 2: to end in my lifetime, but it might not. But
Speaker 2: what are the fucking odds that's no?
Speaker 3: You are right, yeah, yeah, that it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I will obviously always be optimistic and hope
Speaker 1: that I can make fate last to the end of
Speaker 1: my life. But that is that would be a success
Speaker 1: story that no one's ever fucking heard of, Like a
Speaker 1: young girl just start in this clothing brand and she
Speaker 1: makes it last her whole life. And it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things like that you stop and think of
Speaker 1: and go holy shit, like Fate's going to end one day.
Speaker 1: And this is why you see so many business owners
Speaker 1: grow their company to a certain point and then they
Speaker 1: sell it because a lot of people see it as
Speaker 1: you're better to build something up and sell it and
Speaker 1: walk away with heaps of money so that you don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about being there.
Speaker 2: For its downfall. Let someone else deal with the downfall.
Speaker 1: That's why people sell businesses because they walk away at
Speaker 1: the peak, they get all their money, and who cares
Speaker 1: about the rest? Who cares what happens after that? And
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm ever going to do that,
Speaker 1: or if I'm just going to see it out right
Speaker 1: until the end.
Speaker 4: For something that you've built from the ground up, Yeah,
Speaker 4: it would be hard to envision would I actually sell
Speaker 4: it or would I actually be the one too?
Speaker 1: And that would be devastating. I know we had Christian
Speaker 1: Hull on the pod and he talked to us about
Speaker 1: closing down his business.
Speaker 2: But I would love.
Speaker 1: To get someone on here who has had a business
Speaker 1: for a long time, maybe someone who has had retail
Speaker 1: as well, and talk to them about what that was like,
Speaker 1: because it would be a bittersweet to watch.
Speaker 2: Your business end, but it would also be devastating.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I get why people sell their businesses and walk away,
Speaker 1: because then you can just be like.
Speaker 2: Yay, and then you just forget about it.
Speaker 1: And it's just weird to think, like, one day I'm
Speaker 1: going to have to make one of those two decisions,
Speaker 1: selling fate to someone else or just watching it fail.
Speaker 1: And that's fucked up to think, but that's the truth.
Speaker 1: But then I think, I think what it all boils
Speaker 1: back to at the end of the day is we
Speaker 1: need to be starting businesses and running businesses to enjoy
Speaker 1: every moment of the journey, not for the exit, and
Speaker 1: a lot of other people will tell you otherwise.
Speaker 2: No, it's all.
Speaker 1: About the exit strategy and getting out when it's at
Speaker 1: its peak and making the most amount of money.
Speaker 2: But I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: For me. I think I would want to ride the
Speaker 1: wave right until the very end.
Speaker 2: And when is that going to be? Who knows.
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of business and the game is. I
Speaker 1: am not guaranteed tomorrow with Fate. It could all crumble
Speaker 1: overnight just with one bad mistake. It could be next year,
Speaker 1: It could be in three years when all of our
Speaker 1: stores leases are coming to an end. It could be
Speaker 1: in twenty years. I have no idea what the future
Speaker 1: holds for Fate. I can make projections based off how
Speaker 1: we're going at the moment, but also the world changes,
Speaker 1: shit happens. So it's just a really eye opening thing
Speaker 1: to think about.
Speaker 2: And I won't lie.
Speaker 1: It is scary seeing all of these retailers that have
Speaker 1: been around for a long time shutting down, And if anything,
Speaker 1: I think it's a reminder to me and other business
Speaker 1: owners out there, especially if you are in retail, how
Speaker 1: can we make our experience different and how can we
Speaker 1: keep ourselves afloat. You actually shared something with me the
Speaker 1: other day that I thought I would end on about AI. Me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, you.
Speaker 1: Shared it with me on TikTok, and it had me
Speaker 1: thinking with how much AI is taking over and how
Speaker 1: everything is becoming artificial, from images to videos, email marketing
Speaker 1: that we get from brands. It's all becoming so AI.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's getting to the point where now
Speaker 1: there's so much fake stuff out there that you don't
Speaker 1: know what's real and what isn't. And you shared this
Speaker 1: video with me that said, with the rise of AI
Speaker 1: and everything being fake, this person thinks that in person
Speaker 1: experiences are going to become more popular because with everything
Speaker 1: being fake on the internet, people are going.
Speaker 2: To lose their trust and not going to believe it.
Speaker 2: Then you're not going to believe it.
Speaker 1: You're not going to want to shop with every brand
Speaker 1: that's emailing you because everything just sings fake and people.
Speaker 4: I already feel that way a lot of the time.
Speaker 4: If I'm being sold to online, I'm like, I actually
Speaker 4: want to speak to a person because I don't quite
Speaker 4: trust what I'm reading or what I'm seeing.
Speaker 1: So maybe hopefully it could be a good thing. With
Speaker 1: the rise of AI and everything being fake online, maybe
Speaker 1: people will be seeking that in person connection more and
Speaker 1: taking it back to the roots of retail. And so
Speaker 1: maybe that's when brands like myself and other retail business
Speaker 1: owners can step up and be the one there to
Speaker 1: offer that in person service and we can pivot and
Speaker 1: make it amazing so that people can escape the crazy
Speaker 1: online AI world and come in store and just have
Speaker 1: a good old fashion shop.
Speaker 2: So that's that for you.
Speaker 1: As always, thank you so much for tuning in to
Speaker 1: today's episode of Big Business. Please rate me five stars
Speaker 1: if you haven't already. And I thought I would also
Speaker 1: do a reminder that I have written a book. If
Speaker 1: you follow me on Instagram you will see I'm not
Speaker 1: shutting up about it at the moment, but I just
Speaker 1: thought I would do a reminder again.
Speaker 2: Xander will leave a link to book.
Speaker 1: Topia in the show notes, or you can literally just
Speaker 1: jump on the book Tope your website and pretty sure
Speaker 1: there's a banner of me there. You can type in
Speaker 1: my name. Please pre order my book. If you love
Speaker 1: my podcast, you will love reading my book. Or if
Speaker 1: you know someone that's at the start of their business
Speaker 1: journey or maybe they're even just thinking of starting a
Speaker 1: business or pursuing something on their own.
Speaker 2: I feel like my book would be a great gift
Speaker 2: to give.
Speaker 1: To someone who's looking for some inspiration. As always, I'm
Speaker 1: going to wrap up today's episode with a tip of
Speaker 1: the week, And you know what, My tip of the
Speaker 1: week is to be completely different to the theme of
Speaker 1: today's episode. And it's actually a tip that the interview
Speaker 1: Boss Girls said when they were here on my pod,
Speaker 1: and I don't remember exactly how it goes or if
Speaker 1: it is a quote that I could actually directly quote
Speaker 1: from someone. Maybe we can try and search it up online.
Speaker 1: But it's a tip for everyone that is employed, so
Speaker 1: it's not a tip for business owners. And the tip
Speaker 1: is when she said it, it's stuck with me. When
Speaker 1: you're employed anywhere, especially if it's somewhere where you're wanting
Speaker 1: to build a career and kind of grow with the company.
Speaker 1: She said, there's always going to be a group of
Speaker 1: people talking about you and your career in another room.
Speaker 1: Make sure that at least one person in that room
Speaker 1: is going to be the one that is vouching for
Speaker 1: you and is on your team. And I feel like
Speaker 1: that is just such a powerful piece of advice because
Speaker 1: as the person that's in the other room, that is
Speaker 1: so true. Like your managers, your bosses, your hr your CEOs,
Speaker 1: they're always going to be talking about you and how
Speaker 1: you're doing at work and the things that you're maybe
Speaker 1: doing really right or the things that you're doing really wrong,
Speaker 1: or the.
Speaker 2: Behaviors that you're maybe participating in.
Speaker 1: There's always going to be someone that's talking about you
Speaker 1: and your career when you're not in the room. So
Speaker 1: be mindful of that and do everything in your power
Speaker 1: to make sure if you love, if you love your
Speaker 1: job and you want to grow, make sure that someone
Speaker 1: in that room is going to be on your team
Speaker 1: and be the one rooting for you saying yes, we
Speaker 1: should promote this person, yes we should give this person
Speaker 1: a pay rise, because it's just something I guess employees.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't think of. And when the interview boss girls said
Speaker 2: that to me, I was like, oh, yeah, that's a
Speaker 2: fucking good one. That's so true. So be mindful all your.
Speaker 1: Employees out there, and always remember that. Anyway, I better
Speaker 1: head off, but thanks for listening, and remember to make
Speaker 1: sure you chase after your dreams as if they owe
Speaker 1: you money,